Sunday, May 22, 2016

It Happened in America: New York is emphatically red

New York City 0-7 New York Red Bulls
Dax McCarty got the Red Bulls off to the right start only three minutes in. His header of a Sacha Kljestan corner gave the red half of New York the early lead in hostile territory. City did well to win a few corners after conceding the goal, but things would be far from rosy for them. The first half was a very chippy one with the sides coming together to trade shouts after hard challenges multiple times. A couple cards were shown, but both sides kept all 11 men on the pitch.

Red Bulls would double their lead in the 42nd minute with some wonderful outside play from Mike Grella that led to a laser of a cross aimed at Steven Wright-Phillips, who blsted through Josh Saunders for the second goal. Wright-Phillips would strike again in stoppage time. During another spell of sustained possession by Red Bulls, a ball floated his way and he was able to bicycle kick it home.

The second half continued the Red Bull domination. Dax McCarty headed another corner home in the 51st minute to make it 4-0. Minutes after coming on as a substitute, Alex Muyl scored his first career MLS goal after an awful turnover in New York City defensive third in the 56th minute. After that, the defensive subs poured in and New York Red Bulls cruised to their fourth victory over their Manhattan rivals in four tries. But not before a sixth was added by Gonzalo Veron in the 83rd and a seventh by Gideon Baah in the 89th.

Chicago Fire 1-0 Houston Dynamo
Holy cow a win for Chicago. The worst team in the league got themselves a much needed victory in front of their home crowd against Houston, who aren't in much better shape. The two last place sides combined for a flurry of shots, but only one third minute goal from Chicago's Arturo Alvarez. After that early tally, Houston ended up controlling 62.7% possession while only managing to take ten shots. Chicago was much more effective with their relative lack of possession. Their 20 shots mark a season high for the Fire, but don't expect it to be the sign of any massive turnaround.

Toronto FC 0-0 Columbus Crew
Toronto's home stand continues in unexciting fashion as the Crew came to town. They were looking to adjust to life without Jozy Altidore, who injured his hamstring again last week. They will also have to learn to play without Michael Bradley, who departs for Copa America in a week. They didn't do to well with him in the lineup here. Columbus bossed play for the majority of the match while only allowing Toronto to take eight shots. The Crew have returned to their old ways of struggling to score. Despite all their chances at goal, nothing went in and they had to settle for a scoreless draw.

Orlando City 2-1 Montreal Impact
A match on turf means no Didier Drogba for Montreal, but that didn't matter early on. Ignacio Piatti has been picking up the slack when the Ivorian star is out and he did that again in the fourth minute of this one. After holding on for most of the half, Montreal would concede the equalizer shortly before the whistle. Cyle Larin found it for Orlando City in the 43rd minute. The match looked like it was on a crash course for a draw until Larin struck again with an 87th minute for Orlando.

New England Revolution 2-4 FC Dallas
Dallas got off to a hot start by earning a penalty in the fourth minute. Michael Barrios collided with Bobby Shuttleworth on his way to a ball in the penalty area. Shuttleworth was probably luck to have escaped with only a yellow card on the play. Tesho Akindele buried the ensuing penalty kick to give Dallas the lead. Barrios eventually had to leave the match thanks to the challenge. New England would fight back. they would his a post shortly after the goal and then get level with a header from Juan Agudelo at the 23 minute mark. Lee Nguyen's picture perfect free kick set up the chance. Two minutes later, they won a penalty as Nguyen charged into the box after a corner and he knocked the penalty off the crossbar and in. Dallas would continue the thunderous first half by scoring off a 36th corner. Atiba Harris provided the headed finish that deflected off Shuttleworth's hand.

The second half wasn't nearly as exciting as the first. Fabian Castillo did give Dallas the lead in the 70th minute, though. Akindele provided the finishing blow on a 90th minute counter attack by beating Shuttleworth to a through ball in the penalty area. That moved Dallas ahead of Colorado atop the West for a couple hours.

Sporting Kansas City 1-3 Real Salt Lake
On a rainy night in Kansas City, it was RSL getting in front in the 32nd minute. Juan Manuel Martinez put it home, although he may have been offside. It got worse for Kansas City just before the break. Brad Davis tapped home an own goal in the second minute of stoppage time to stretch the deficit to two goals. Dom Dwyer opened the second half strong for SKC. He collected a long through pass and buried his shot to cut into the RSL lead in the 50th minute. Their hope was dashed within three minutes as Yura Movsisyan got behind the Kansas City backline to restore Salt Lake's two goal lead in the 53rd. That was all that mattered from this very efficient match from Real Salt Lake. They took a total of six shots on the night and all three that went on target went in. This win jumps them to third place in the West while SKC falls down to seventh.

Seattle Sounders 0-1 Colorado Rapids
The top team in the Supporters Shield standings traveled to Seattle, who are having all the trouble in the world scoring goals right now. Zac MacMath had to step up big in the opening ten minutes. His best moment came after Clint Dempsey split the defense in twain, he had to step off his line to deny the USMNT forward of what could have been an easy goal. His strong play allowed Colorado to take the lead at the end of the half. Axel Sjoberg provided the 43rd minute finish. The Sounders were then able to pelt the Rapids' goal with shots in the second half. Their best chance was off a corner that was cleared off the line at the last possible moment. Colorado was somewhat threatening on the counter attack, but the match was more about their defense keeping Seattle at bay. Although thy have the fewest goals in the league, they still are able to put together chances. They just can't seem to finish them.